New Delhi: The pandemic’s impact on the travel & tourism industry has been severe. Small businesses and daily wage workers, in particular, have been the worst hit. Lending a helping hand to them, 6 Indian travel start-ups – Ithaka, WanderOn, Spiti Ecosphere, The Hosteller, UNCIA, and SimplyOffbeat, have announced the launch of #StandWithTravel. It is a unique crowdfunding initiative aimed at helping thousands of daily-wagers and businesses affected by the pandemic by raising funds to help them sustain over the next 3-6 months.
Anyone interested can join the moment and contribute an amount of their liking to #StandWithTravel and pledge to support small travel businesses by travelling in India. The funds will be distributed among local businesses and families to help them tide over this period. The #StandWithTravel community has also captured the emotions of the ongoing struggles faced by the tourism industry in of a video – “Chhuttiyan” (Instagram Link, Youtube Link – which was launched on 22nd August across social media channels and has seen a massive response from the travel community within hours of launch.
Speaking on the development, Rahul Singh, Co-founder of Ithaka and one of the leaders behind this initiative, says, “We have always relied on local businesses to help us when we travel. Seeing them struggle like this is heart-breaking. We will all travel again someday when the world is a little better, and it will be the locals who help us out once again. It is with this in mind that we decided to launch #StandWithTravel. We’re hoping the travel community comes together to support them at a time when they need us the most. We want people to understand that #StandWithTravel is not a charity project. We are using our initiative to not only help local businesses, but also provide travellers with an opportunity to enjoy exclusive discounts when they start travelling in India again. In fact, they will end up availing more benefits than the amount they had contributed for. It is really a win-win situation for both parties.”
Hemanth Aluru, Chief Business Officer Zoomcar, says, “We are delighted to partner with #StandWithTravel in helping small businesses and the local communities dependent on tourism survive. Through our various offers and discounts on the campaign, we want to reward the good behaviour of contributors who care for the cause.”
